Mother's Day is just around
the corner. We've got an amazing range of terrific titles that will get
you sorted and if you are very quick, we'll be able to get a signed edition of Ray Martin's memoir (new to
paperback) hopefully in time for the big day.

As for nonfiction,
my pick is The Winter of Our Disconnect. It is
funny, relevant and gosh, did it speak to me! We'll be hearing a lot
more about Susan Maushart over
coming weeks as she is back in Australia for some major literary
festivals.

I've got the best of sport, some
great craft titles (because I know you love
them), memoir and more. And do have a look at my young adult's selection. They can be so tricky to
buy for but this month there an embarrassment of riches.

The bestselling
autobiography of one of Australia's most loved personalities is now in
paperback and if you pre-order today,
we might just be able to rush a signed copy to you in time for Mother's Day.

We
will take delivery of signed Ray Martin stock on late Friday
afternoon APRIL 30. We can
have them out of the warehouse and in the post first thing on Monday,
and (Australia Post willing) to your door in time for Mother's Day.

The
hardback edition of this book was a pre-Christmas favourite. Now this
funny, deeply honest thought-provoking and ultimately inspiring
autobiography is available in paperback.

This is a fascinating
behind-the-scenes look at the machinations of big TV corporations, as
well as an insight into the characters that run our television
broadcasting, all from the perspective of one of Australia's most
trusted and beloved TV personalities.

If you want
to wow your kids, get them into Skulduggery Pleasant. I am speaking from
experience here. Both of my kids (one boy, one girl) loved Landy's
skeleton detective when in their late primary years, as did I. What they
would have loved even more was their very own signedcopy.

HOTEL IRIS by Yoko OgawaMari is the much
exploited 17 year old daughter of a woman who runs the Hotel Iris, a
small Japanese hotel which comes alive for three months of the year.
When her mother ejects a middle-aged man and a prostitute from one of
the rooms, Mari falls under the spell of the calm authority of his
voice. The man turns out to be a translator who lives on a nearby
island. Mari pursues the man and a secret liaison ensues. However the
relationship has its own peculiar logic. The man is warm and respectful
on the mainland. In the privacy of his home, he switches to a perverse
and sadistic lover. For her part, Mari takes as much solace from pain as
from pleasure.

Yoko Ogawa is a much feted author in Japan and
her prize-winning works have gradually been translated into other
languages. She is best known in the west for The Housekeeper and the
Professor. She writes with clarity, restraint and despite the
often graphic subject matter of this particular novel, a great deal of
precision and beauty.

While Hotel Iris
fits into the stereotypes of misogynist sexual violence that stalks the
underbelly of Japanese culture, what is interesting about this novel is
the complicity of Mari’s behaviour. Indeed it is she who courts the
translator, and it is she who returns for the ritual of humiliation. But
despite her active pursuit of the older man, (and for a short time his
younger much more wholesome nephew) as a character, Mari remains
underdeveloped, enigmatic and limited. For this reason more than any
other then, I found it interesting that the creator of this utterly
prescribed figure is herself female.

Of course, in the west there
is a strong tradition of pleasure and pain in literature, starting most
famously with the Marquis de Sade. And there is no shortage of women
writing explicit work, particularly in recent years. What I am not familiar
with however, is whether there is a tradition of this kind of female
writing in Japan.

Kenzaburō Ōe (who won the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1994) says of Ogawa that she is able to give expression to
the most subtle workings of human psychology in prose that is gentle
yet penetrating. The subtlety in part lies in the fact that Ogawa's
characters often seem not to know why they are doing what they are
doing. She works by accumulation of detail. The reader is presented with
an acute description of what the (mainly female) protagonists observe
and feel. Their somewhat alienated self-observations seem to be a
reflection of Japanese society and especially women's roles within it.

I
have not had the opportunity to read any of her other works, but this
summary certainly rings true in the case of Hotel Iris.
It is psychologically ambiguous and disturbing, but at the same time
completely compelling, but be warned, this is definitely not a run of
the mill bodice-ripper.

The
electrifying finale in Patrick Ness’s multi-award-winning Chaos Walking
trilogy is but days away!

Monsters of Men is the most anticipated
crossover novel of 2010. It is the sequel to the critically acclaimed,
multi-award winning The Knife of Never
Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer.
Set in a sinister world where men can hear each others thoughts, this
is an epic, unflinching tale about the devastating realities of war.
Since first publication in 2008, Chaos Walking
has won seven major awards, won critical acclaim from every national
newspaper and he has been heralded as a literary sensation for teens and
adults alike.

In Monsters of Men,
Todd and Viola face monstrous decisions as a world-ending war surges to
life around them. The indigenous Spackle, thinking and acting as one,
have mobilised to avenge their murdered people. Ruthless human leaders
prepare to defend their factions at all costs, even as a convoy of new
settlers approaches. And all the time, the ceaseless Noise lays all
thoughts bare. The consequences of each action, each word, are
unspeakably vast: to follow a tyrant or a terrorist? To save the life of
the one you love most, or thousands of strangers? Todd and Viola are
left questioning all they have known, as they hurtle towards a shocking
finale.

Two former
lovers meet across space and time but what really brings them back
together and how can they really trust their view of their pasts? There
are few authors who can boast 20 million copies of a single book but
the Norwegian author of Sophie's World
can. The Castle in the
Pyrenees returns to some of the ideas of that seminal
novel - much of the action takes place through correspondence which
contemplates some of life's big questions about differing views of
reality and the tricks memory can play on us. Castle in the Pyrenees
is also an intimate love story of rediscovery. A welcome
return to print, and a lovely demi-hardback edition.

From the author:I started out three years ago, with
nothing but fragments of plotline and my narrator’s voice to guide me.
I’d been going through some troublesome times, and my sunny disposition
had taken something of a blow. I found I didn’t want to write, and spent
far too much time online, hanging around various sites and searching
out ever more ingenious ways of evading reality. Under a pseudonym, I
made a number of online friends, wrote a great deal of fanfic, and began
to take an increasing interest in the way people interact online, the
communities they create and join, and the way they choose to portray
themselves. I understood too, how emotionally dependent people can
sometimes become reliant on their virtual friends and their virtual
communities, even though there can be no way of knowing how honest these
avenues of communication really are.From all this came Blueeyedboy, a
dark psychological thriller set in the world of the internet, where
no-one is quite what they seem to be, and every taste is catered for,
even the ones to which we dare not confess.

Isabel Allende’s
triumphant return to historical fiction tells the story of Zarité, a
nine-year-old mulatto girl who is sold as a slave in eighteenth-century
Santo Domingo. This sweeping novel follows her and other slaves over
forty years, telling the story of their exploitation and the miserable
conditions of their lives. In Zarité, Isabel Allende has created another
of her unforgettable characters: a fighter, a heroine, a woman who will
prevail, regardless of what the future might hold.Portraying the
only successful slave rebellion in history, which resulted in the
creation of Haiti, Allende vividly captures the sights and sounds, fears
and prejudices of this tumultuous era. Island Beneath the Sea
is extensively researched and all too timely, demonstrating that the
recent earthquakes are only the latest in a long string of disasters and
misfortune for the nation. I can't imagine how any writer on the
legacy of slavery could eclipse The Long Song
by Andrea Levy (with her dissection of the Jamaican experience).
However, Allende has a huge following and the pre-publication reviews
have been very positive (with one notable exception).

Unknown author
Rebecca James made headlines last November when her new novel was
the subject of a bidding war at the Frankfurt Book Fair. With bids topping out at more than
$1 million, Beautiful Malice
was described as a "brilliantly plotted sexy psychological page-turner"
billed as Stephenie Meyer without the vampires by the Wall Street Journal.James's novel
depicts the relationship between Katherine, a solitary girl whose
sister was brutally murdered, and gorgeous fun-loving Alice, who
befriends her. Alice's influence is transformative, but as Katherine
emerges from her grief, she discovers her new best friend can be
chilling as well as charming.This book is going to be huge and will
appeal to teenager girls as well as women.

Another great
offering from Dettman, who swept readers away with Pearl in a Cage.
If you like Kate Morton and Belinda Alexandra, then Dettman is for you,
with her stories of rural Australia at war. Thorn on the Rose
can be read as a stand alone novel, although it does follow on from Pearl in a Cage.

This one caught
my eye as it is something very different from ex-cop and Mafia expert,
author of Infiltration,
Colin McLaren.McLaren has fashioned a romantic novel based on the
life of his grandfather, a larrikin whose was character was forged at
Gallipoli. Sunflower
roams from outback Australia to the Bedouin markets of Cairo, on to the
Somme and then back again.

Trust is a
novel about two very different sisters, and their families - about
secrets and how they unfold, about loyalty, and betrayal, and finding
the strength to grasp the truth about your self. Veitch garnered a lot
of support with her first novel,Listen.
Trust promises
to be just as gripping.

Moscow, 1936 and
Stalin's Great Terror is beginning. In a deconsecrated Church, a young
woman is found dead, her mutilated body displayed on the altar for all
to see. Captain Alexei Dimitrevich Korolev, finally beginning to enjoy
the benefits of his success with the Criminal Investigation Division of
the Moscow Militia, is asked to investigate. But when he discovers that
the victim is an American citizen, the NKVD, the most feared
organisation in Russia, becomes involved. The Holy Thief
is a wonderful evocation of time and place - a bit of crime, a bit of
history, a bit of love interest - brought to you by the people who
discovered C.J. Sansom. Best of all, it comes to you at a great
introductory price.Click here to
buy The Holy
ThiefRetail Price:$25.00,
BooktopiaPrice:$19.95SAVE
20%

This
is the terrifying and hilarious prequel in which we witness the genesis
of the zombie plague in early nineteenth century England. Zombies was the
surprise publishing phenomenon of 2009. Who would have thought that
Regency England was the Land of the Undead?

In
a cruel and arbitrary world, where disturbing lapses in logic are
commonplace, five orphans must face their traumatic origins. Each has a
special ability, each is connected to all of the others, and each gets
exactly what they deserve.Or do they?This is a most unusual
book, laid out in chapter and verse, putting one immediately in
mind of an illuminated Bible. It is full of parables, symbols,
illustrations and some particularly detailed colour plates.

Well, the film has
been controversial enough (at least among parents of some teen and
younger children), and the original graphic novel makes it clear why.
This anti super-hero story takes comic book realism to a whole new
level.For adults only.

Maggie O'Farrell
describes this as very special,
ambitious, compelling and utterly gripping. For some reason, Hearts and Minds
was overlooked when it originally came out but it is so worth picking
up now at the lower price.This thought-provoking, entertaining and
topical novel has received brilliant reviews overseas and has quickly
become a staff pick. Although the
marketplace is crowded, Craig's tome will still hold its own because she
eschews laboured profundity. Her style is immediate and precise, and
convincingly dramatic. She skilfully mixes skilled reportage (once a
journalist, always a journalist) with a filmic sensibility.Click here to
read the full review from The IndependentClick here to
buy Hearts and
MindsRetail
Price:$24.99,BooktopiaPrice:$16.95SAVE 32%

And
speaking of Maggie O'Farrell, the wonderful author of The Vanishing Act of
Esme Lennox is back with what promises to be an even more
alluring read.From the 1950s art scene to present day London,
O'Farrell brings us an extraordinary portrait of two women, separated by
fifty years but connected in ways that neither could have ever
expected. This is the first time O'Farrell has tackled the subject
of motherhood so directly, and she does so with characteristic bravery,
passion and intelligence. The Hand That First Held
Mineis
the brilliant retort to insipid 'mum lit' that readers have been
clamouring for.Click here to
buy The Hand That First Held
MineRetail
Price:$32.99,BooktopiaPrice:$25.95SAVE 21%

A poignant
novel about a timeless love between two people and a devastating disease
that forces them to make drastic decisions. If you liked Still Alice
(and who didn't?), you'll love this one.'Unashamedly but never overwhelmingly romantic. A completely
absorbing story of absolute and unconditional love, the possibility of a
true communion with nature and the simple joy inherent in lives lived
well. I loved Eternal on the Water, the characters are true and remarkable in
their integrity and the writing is believable and magnetic.' Lou
Johnson, Sales and Marketing Director, Simon and Schuster

Literary fiction at its finest, Day for Night
explores with insight and intelligence different notions of family and
just how unrelated lives might interconnect. The scope and cleverness of
the story, coupled with amazing prose, all point to Frederick Reiken
becoming a literary novelist of real note. Day for Night
will appeal to fans of Michael Chabon and Paul Auster.And what do
other booksellers say? Try this. 'Drop
what you're doing and read the new Frederick Reiken novel, Day for
Night. I don't care if you're busy--this is more important. And it's not
a slow read either, so I don't want to hear any whining about how you don't have the time.The story zigs and zags, and coincidences
are anything but and other puzzle pieces that seem to be related are
just coincidence. Reiken's got an elegant simplicity about his writing,
but the characters and plotlines and themes interconnect, not like a
tapestry, but a video game with all this hidden programming.'

Here are some names that will probably be new to you. They
are all authors whose novels have sold in the hundreds of thousands but
have been unavailable in English until now. Before you turn your nose
up, can I just say "The Elegance of the
Hedgehog" and "The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo"? So here it is, my take on the best of the
best out of Europe this month.

Perfume meets The Da Vinci Code
in Amsterdam? Daniëlle Hermans is a Dutch journalist and crime writer
and her fast-paced thriller set in contemporary London with its roots in
the 17th century tulip trade of the Netherlands has seen more than
400,000 copies sold in her home land alone.

THE FROZEN
HEARTby Almudena GrandesMario
Vargas Llosa has described her as "one of the great writers of our
time". Grandes is a Spanishauthor whose sales go into the millions. This is a
sweeping saga that covers the Spanish Civil War and moves from the
provincial heartlands of the Iberian peninsula to the frozen wastes of
Russia. The Frozen Heart
is a journey through a war that tore families apart and turned fathers
against sons, brothers against brothers, wives against husbands. Against
such a past, where do faith and loyalty lie? This is perfect for fans
of epic stories like Dr Zhivago
and TheShadow of the Wind.Click here to
orderThe Frozen Heart. RRP
$35.00 Booktopiaprice $27.95 SAVE 20%

Can we learn to be happy? Hector wants to find
out. Over two million people have engaged with this modern fable which
is now translated into English. The film version is being released later
this year. This book has been nurtured by the same people who brought The Elegance of
the Hedgehog, so I reckon they know how to sort the wheat
from the chaff.

DESERTby
Jean-Marie Gustave Le ClezioImmigrant life in France contrasts with the north
African experience of the early twentieth century in Nobel Prize winner
JMG Le Clezio's Desert, now
available in English for the first time.

I always feel
like the Grim Reaper putting together this section. So many wonderful
books, across a huge range of topics, and only room for the very select
few. Here is what has caught my eye in nonfiction this month. There's
something for everyone.

WINTER OF OUR
DISCONNECT

EAARTH: MAKING A
LIFE ON A TOUGH NEW PLANET

How three totally wired
teenagers (and a mother who slept with her iPhone) pulled the plug on
their technology and lived to tell the tale.

Susan Maushart

This book is for
anyone who has a creeping fear about their addiction to technology.
Columnist, author, social commentator and mother of three, Maushart,
decides to un-plug for six months, dragging her reluctant daughters into
a electronic-media-less world.This is a very readable, very funny,
but very interesting account of those fraught six months - what it meant
for family, what it meant for friends, what it meant for work.This
account of one family's self-imposed exile from the Information Age will
leave you gasping with recognition. It makes a perfect talking point
and led to an hilarious and heated debate around our kitchen table.

McKibben was our
unheeded canary in the coal mine with the publication twenty years ago
of The End of Nature.Hopefully we have learnt to listen to him.McKibben
now brings us the guidebook on how to actually ensure our future.Bill McKibben foresaw 'the end of nature'
very early on, and in this new book he blazes a path to help preserve
nature's greatest treasures. (James E. Hansen, director, NASA
Goddard Institute for Space Studies).What I have to say about this book is very simple: read it,
please. Straight through to the end. Whatever else you were
planning to do next, nothing could be more important. (Barbara
Kingsolver, biologist and author of The Poisonwood Bible)Click here to
buy Eaarth:Retail
Price: $32.95, Booktopia Price:
$25.95 SAVE 21%

It has been thirty
years since the first state of origin, what better time than now for an
illustrated celebration of Queensland rugby league? Perfect for "maroon
lovers" and Rugby League afficionados!

Are we a great
football nation? Can we be a serious contender? Do we have a national
style? This is an accessible yet knowledgeable backgrounder to "the
beautiful game", the perfect primer for the World Cup.

You might not
know his name but you sure know his charges - Ablett, Carey, Cousins.
The big men of AFL who are as well known for their off field bad
behaviour as well as the brilliance of their play. Nixon is the most
powerful AFL player manager of his generation and in this book he
reveals the incendiary world of sports management.

How can you go
past a title like that? Slime Mutants
celebrates the art of the mass-market paperback. This is a vibrant tour
of mystery, love, westerns, highbrow literature and everything in
between. I haven't actually clapped eyes on this art and design book yet
but it is published by Rizzoli so it is a pretty sure thing.

With more than
50 projects, many of which are Australian, this book gives new meaning
into the term "kit home". I've looked through this book - it is simply
stunning. Packed full of colour photos, plans and elevations, this is
the answer to everyone with big ideas and a limited budget.

Customers
interested in innovative design may also be interested in Melbourne: Global Smart
City by Ken Maher and Richard Florida. This book is
designed for readers who are curious about a successful city and its
growth plans.

SECRETS OF THE
GROWN-UP BRAIN: THE SURPRISING TALENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGED MIND

MANUFACTURING
DEPRESSION: THE SECRET HISTORY OF A MODERN DISEASE

Barbara Strauch

Strauch is somewhat of an expert when it comes to grey matter, having
written a number of well researched books on the inner workings of the
brain. This latest one will come as something of a relief to many. It
seems that when it comes to the brain middle age doesn't mean mediocre
performance! Based on the latest neuroscientific and psychological
research, the brain apparently re-organises itself as it ages, proving
yet again, to be flexible and up to the challenge.

This is a
fascinating study of the relationship between psychiatric diagnosis and
the pharmaceutical industry that grows fat from it. It examines the role
of the corporate sector in creating the idea of depression.

Meanwhile,
one wonders what Sonya Melbourne
would make of it all. With a mother who suffered a lifetime of severe
mental illness, Melbourne has put together a compilation of true stories
of Australians who have experienced mental illness and have achieved
recovery. INSPIRED
RECOVERYis really all about the triumph of the human spirit.

Humanity,
community, the individual, this inspirational book combines philosophy
with practical and creative perspectives on the big questions of life.The
text is combined with some really inspirational colour plates featuring
the art work of Victor Majzner.

Subtitled Continuing the journey
of discovery for women, this is a very positive book on ageing
and retirement issues, covering it all from nurturing creativity to the
art of solitude. Part memoir, part self-help, this is a ready reckoner
which is going to prove a godsend for a great many women.

Here are my two favourite "coffee table books" for the
month. Both visual feasts, but oh, so different.

YVON'S PARISby Robert StevensWith an eye for starling
viewpoints and unusual weather conditions, Pierre Yves-Petit , who
called himself Yvon, photographed Paris between the wars. These are the
images that have come to be synonymous with the city of love - the city
awakening at dawn, the shimmering afterglow of rain, the shoulder of a
gargoyle atop a cathedral. Yvon's Paris
reproduces more than one hundred of his loveliest images, many made
from recently discovered glass negatives. This is an elegant and poetic
collection capturing Paris at its most photogenic.

AWKWARD FAMILY
PHOTOSby Mike Bender &
Doug ChernackAnd
speaking of elegant and poetic, this book is certainly NOT! We've had a
lot of fun with this one around the office. It is a collection of the
most hilarious, awkward, cringe-worthy family photos based on (but not
included in) the hugely popular website of the same name. The funny part
of this is not that the photos exist, but that people have actually
sent them in to be part of a public collection. This one is my gift of
choice for 2010.

There seems
hardly a time in the last 30 years that Shirley Shackleton hasn't
stalked the collective conscience. Even more so now with a couple of
films in commercial release concerning her late husband Greg who was
killed in East Timor in 1975.The Circle of Silence
is not another book about Balibo. It is a woman's quest for both
inner peace and outer justice and her unexpected journey as a human
rights activist.

It is easy to
overlook the Tanami as the dead heart of Australia but Ros Moriarty has
long since learned differently. As a white woman married to an
Aboriginal man, she has spent a lot of time in country.This book is
her account of one particular journey through the Tanami, with about 200
women performing particular ceremonies. It was then that she learnt
about the richness of culture, and the depth of humanity, that is often
much overlooked in the popular imagery concerning remote communities.This
is a warm and wonderful memoir.

If you grew up
in Queensland in the 60s and 70s you would have heard of the notorious
reform school, Westbrook. Locking a kid up in Westbrook was condemning
him to a life of poverty, misery and brutality. That is of course, if he
went on to live a full life.William Stokes tells his story of
Westbrook from the inside with a searing honesty that is both disturbing
and compelling.

Alex Miller, David Williamson, Max Gilles,
Gillian Mears among others, all come together to write about their own
experiences of what happened when their hearts nearly let them down.Moving,
funny, sad, honest - this is both an insight into the writers' at
pivotal points in their lives as well as perhaps lessons for us all.

Joanne
Fedler and her partner left South Africa in October 2001 for Sydney,
with their two small children. After an act of random violence
devastated her family, Joanne knew that it was her duty to take her
daughter out of the country. She arrived in Australia, a reluctant
immigrant. As the losses of immigration set in – identity, history,
culture, family, friendships, and life’s purpose – Joanne faltered. All
she wanted was to go ‘home’. Approaching her 40th birthday,Joanne
did not know who she was or even what mattered. Then came the photo on
the beach. It was a turning point. Joanne sets herself one goal over the
next two years: to regain her figure by losing the weight she has put
on since the birth of her children. But she soon discovers she has a lot
more to lose that a couple of kilos.

The
extraordinary and unique memoir of the first ever British female Apache
helicopter pilot. We have, quite simply, never seen the landscape of
21st-century frontline conflict from a perspective like Madison's
before. Dressed to
Killwill appeal to anyone interested in current affairs, but
it will also speak to a whole generation of young women who will relate
to 27-year-old Charlotte in a way they never imagined possible.
Charlotte is a real-life Lara Croft. She is the only pilot ever to
have gone 'Winchester' - used every single piece of ammunition in the
Apache's awesome armoury - in a single sortie. At only 27-years-old
Charlotte is a veteran of two (soon to be three) tours of duty in
Afghanistan.

There
is a huge appetite for craft as patrons of this Sydney shop by the same
name will attest.Prints Charming, the studio, specialises in
original modern hand made fabrics and crafts. Prints Charming,
the book, guides you through the world of paper cut screen printing and
also includes 40 wonderful projects for you to make. Each chapter comes
with a copyright-free motif for you to use when screen printing. Create
the fabric and then use it in your clothes and homewares. Beautifully
photographed, this is more than just an instruction manual.
Spiral bound to make for easy browsing and an envelope at the back of
the book with pattern sheets, Prints Charming
would make a great gift for you or a friend.

With
an unparalleled eye for innovative design, art and all things handmade,
Australian Bijerk has made a name for herself, styling internationally
for everyone from Vogue Entertaining
to Philips. Today the internationally acclaimed stylist and
photographer continues to use her home (a barge on an Amsterdam canal)
as her workshop. She delights in stepping off the beaten path and
discovering the unexpected.This book, for all lovers of things
handmade, the chic and unique, whether professional or not, follows in
the footsteps of her previous Paris: Made By
Hand.Gorgeous.

Knitting
has undergone something of a renaissance over the last five years or so
and this is so the time of year for a simple yet stylish workbook to
get you going for the cooler months. I have drooled over this book.
Yuki Sugiara's photography works beautifully. If you are going to learn
to knit, this is the book you need.

This is
complete indulgence on my part and then wonder about the skill (and
time) required to make such intricate works.Origami Bonsai
takes your breath away. An added bonus for the craftsperson or
professional artists, is that the book contains instructions on how to
actually create these mini masterpieces of paper.

And on the subject of out-of-it paper
crafts, check out Karakuri by Keisuki Saka. Gears, cranks, levers -
paper machines a la The Hungry Beast.
This book comes with directions to make 14 full-sized models.

There has to
be at least one person out there who would be inspired by this amazing
book.Thompson has curated an extensive and artistic range of both
achievable upcycled crafts made from books and book pages. In addition,
he includes a gallery that contains thought-provoking and beautiful
works that transform books into art.Techniques and step-by-step
projects that deconstruct and rebuild books and their parts into unique,
objects are all explained. The book combines in equal measure
bookbinding, woodworking, paper crafting, origami, and textile and
decorative arts techniques, along with a healthy dose of experimentation
and funks, and paper craft.

If you have ever had the great good fortune to sit in those
fabulous pavilions and eat that wonderful food, you will know what a
treat Spirit House is. Essentially Thai
is the third book from the team behind the Sunshine Coast cooking
school and restaurant. A hardback with silver foil on the spine, this is
one very gorgeous cookbook.

Back by popular
demand, with a new format, new design and thoroughly updated, is Neil
Perry's classic Rockpool. More
than 75,000 copies have been sold of previous editions. With the book
as stunning as the restaurant, it is easy to see why.

Out
of the restaurant and into the kitchen. Its time to get real. The CSIRO
diet has had real impact on the every day health of a great many
Australians. Here are 130 new recipes for everyday living - breakfasts
on the go, simple lunches, quick weeknight dinners. All delicious, all
do-able, all delightfully healthy.

There is a young adult
edition of Delphine de Vigan's No and Me (which has
created a sensation in France with both teenage and adult readers
alike). I am cursing that I haven't had time to read yet John Green's Will Grayson Will Grayson,
because I am a major Green fan, as are all the teens I know. Alice Kuipers (wife of Yann Martel -
now there is a power couple) is back with The Worst
Thing She Ever Did. There is a new one from Sally Gardner - in her historical
drama series - The Silver Blade.
An old Markus Zusak is back in
print after an absence of some years (When Dogs Cry)
and there is plenty for the vampire lovers with Richelle Mead'sSpirit Bound
amongst others.

Don't just take my word for it. Get the teen in
your family to look at our
May selection.
The perfect study break.

MOTHER'S DAYYou better be quick.
Click on the image above for all our best suggestions for that special
day.Lots of in stock items ready to ship.

COMPLETELY UNIQUEAfter the death of her brother, poet Anne
Carson made a beautiful handmade book with her timeless words about loss
as well as photos, snippets, stamps, aerograms and handwritten
fragments. Nox is a
facsimile of her original book and it is presented in a superb silver
box. This is a moving work and a beautiful object.

A
master story teller, William Peter Blatty has been working on since
1974. Blatty has thrilled generations of readers with his iconic
bestseller The
Exorcist. Now Blatty gives us Dimiter, a
riveting story of violence, murder, and suspense. Laced with themes of
faith and love, sin and forgiveness, vengeance and compassion, it is a
novel in the grand tradition of Morris West's The Devil's Advocate
and the Catholic novels of Graham Greene. Dimiter is
part detective story and part religious thriller and has been likened to
The
Name of the Rose.

Before Manolos, before Cosmopolitans, and before
she was queen of the NYC social scene, Carrie was just a high school
kid like any other. Written as a prequel to Sex and the City,
this is Carrie's story as a high school girl, long before New York was
even a dream.Fans will be lining up to see the second movie next
month (June), and the movie guide, Sex and the CitySex in
the City 2: The Official Movie Companion is available to
pre-order for June delivery.